Author: Eff

I recently helped my creative genius sister—yes, She-Who-Should-Have-a-Silhouette-But-For-Some-Strange-Reason-Doesn’t—with some wedding decorations. We haven’t had a wedding in the family in ages, so I jumped at the chance to create something wedding-y—namely table numbers and banner signs—for her dear friend, Olivia, whom we’ve seen grow from a toddler into a talented young woman.

With super-sparkly glitter vinyl on cardstock, silver on blue, the table numbers were lovely (the photos just don’t do them justice!), adding just the right classy bling to Olivia’s already classy theme. It was an interesting process. I learned a thing or two about buying cardstock and working with stubborn vinyl. You’ll find all of my tips and tricks here.

Welcome to Wedding (Part 2) about the banner signs. For the matching blingy table numbers go to Wedding (Part 1).

Each banner letter is made of two layers of cardstock: the cream layer, with letters cut out, and a slightly larger navy blue layer that is the background. The layers are glued together and strung on 5/8″ ribbon. I’ve got a super-easy foolproof way to line up the two layers, so assembly is quickquickquick. The free download (SVG or Silhouette file) contains the five banners I made, plus empty banner shapes you can use to create more signs, either in the same font (got that link for you!) or another font of your choosing.

…a heat transfer vinyl t-shirt project…or pillow project…or?

So, it’s the last day of the year, and we’ve been in a deep freeze for the last week— -26 to -33 base temps with the wind chill bumping it into -35 to -45 range. No matter which way you look at it, it’s cold out there, so when the owner of the Canadian SVGs & Designs Facebook group [waves to Lee!] issued a design challenge for “winter/cold” designs because of the “freakin’ ccccold temps”, well, I was all over that like skates on ice.

Squeezing in one more Silhouette project before Christmas! Last week I shared three Dungeons & Dragons projects I made for my kidlets. True to form, in the last minutes of available time before holiday guests arrive, I had the idea to create dice bags for a few more gamers in my life. I happened to have a set of little cotton drawstring bags that I’d bought on spec a couple of years ago, so I whipped up these designs and cut them out of regular and metallic (ooh, blingy!) heat transfer vinyl. If you can’t get bags before Christmas, they would also be great resized and applied to t-shirts.

If you’ve been reading the Whatcha Workin’ On blog for a while, you know how much I love me a good pun. And when it involves Christmas and a mondegreen (fancy word for ‘misheard lyrics’), even better. When I saw the “Deep Pan, Crisp & Even” meme making the rounds on Facebook (a play on the Good King Wenceslas lyrics “deep and crisp and even” referring to the snow), I knew I needed to create a cutting board sign in the style of what the pizza box might look like.

I have a blank glass cutting board in my studio that I use as a work surface when crafting messy things. At Christmas, I scrub the crafting history from the surfaces—gotta love glass—and apply adhesive vinyl in a punny design as part of my kitchen Christmas decor. Wouldn’t this be fun to apply to a plain pizza box to serve pizza over the holidays? LOL…

Somehow, despite not ever having played Dungeons & Dragons myself, all three of my kids ended up being D&D players and dungeon masters. Here are three projects I recently did for them using my Silhouette. You’ll find free cut files below for all of them, in case you want to make shirts, binder decals, door mats etc. for the D&D gamer in your life.

Got a math nerd in your life? I have a few, one of which I’m married to. I love finding gifts with mathy puns and humor for these guys (You’ve seen my pi(e) plate, right?). This Christmas I’m making pillows with an equation, which after several iterations of working toward a solution, arrives at the answer “Merry Christmas”…in mathematical notation, of course.

The math on this one is a little over my slightly-math-nerdy brain, but it’s perfect for two of my peeps (shhh, don’t tell my husband). If you’d like to make a pillow for yourself or a math nerd near you, I’ve got the free .svg and Silhouette cut files to download below.

The calendar’s just turned to December (woohoo!) so start the the fa-la-las and bring on Christmas!

First up… Christmas cards.

I’m in a “simplicity” phase at the moment, and, as usual, I’m short on time, so the design is simple. The cards are quick and easy to make and you can change them up simply by choosing different cardstock colors…Christmas-y red on green , blingy green on gold or super subtle white on white. I even added a few foam dots on some to add dimension. The free download file includes all of the pieces for NOeL and hohoho cards sized to fit a standard A2 envelope.

On my last visit to the thrift shop (it’s the best place to find inexpensive glass for etching!), instead of using a regular plastic shopping bag, they packed my purchases in a zippered insulated bag. OooOOOooo, reusable. I like that. And with our frequent trips to the lake, we could always use a bag like that. The only thing was it already had a design on it, and an ugly one, at that.

Usually I create something new, but today I want to share with you how I used my Silhouette to recycle something old. Although I have links and free files for you, it’s not really a tutorial…more like a show and tell.

Sometimes you have wall space that needs just a little something extra. That’s where this project comes in—a little design to help balance out an oblong frame above a dresser. Since the dresser is an antique and the frame contains pressed mountain flowers, I thought I’d get all ooh la la and go French with “Mes Fleurs”, which, of course, is “my flowers” in French.

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I'm Eff...…part word/math/science nerd, Swiss chocolate fiend, and seasoned mom, always up to my eyeballs in something creative. Join me as I share what I'm working on...anything from paper crafts and vinyl to glass etching and furniture making. Most of my projects involve my Silhouette cutting machine and I share free files so you can play, too! Be sure to check out the project gallery and tutorials list.

I write about what I create and that’s driven by life, inspiration, and how complicated the projects are, so I don't post on a schedule. To catch new posts and tutorials, subscribe. I’ll fire you an email when I add new things. Read more...

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All photos and text on this blog are my own unless otherwise noted HERE or at the bottom of a specific blog post. Please respect copyright. I’d be delighted if you’d like to talk about my work on your blog. You may use a single image with a link back and watermark intact. (And if you do that, I’d be tickled if you’d comment or email to let me know, so I can visit! :^) To use other content or designs, please talk to me first. (eff at whatchaworkinon.com). I won’t bite.

Free files contain images and fonts that I created myself, or are in the public domain, or to which I have the commercial use rights.

Please enjoy my free files for personal use only. That means you can use them to make items for yourself or gifts, but not to sell. The files themselves are not to be distributed in any form, including download links. Instead, please refer others to specific posts so they can download files from here. Thanks muchly!